[solefald]

Long story short, i got laid off last month and looking for new job now.
Spoke to a bunch of recruiters, had interviews at 4 different companies and actually think that i may get an offer today, or at least they made it sound like that.


This morning i get a call from a recruiter with a very thick accent claiming to be from http://www.mindlance.com , saying he has a 6 month contract position at Qualcomm. He went through the list of job requirements, which i seem to meet. (My favorite question was "How often do you use TCP/IP?" lol).

Anyway, at the end he asks me for the last 4 digits of my SSN saying he needs it to submit my application to Q. Why? I have never ever had anyone ask for my SSN, except for the actual HR department AFTER i get hired. So that sounded shady and i refused to give it to him, but told him to email me.

In the last 2 hours he emailed me 3 times and called twice, once from an "Unknown" number. He emailed the job req from Q, but the req number does not look even close to Q reqs.

He just called me again asking for my DOB and said that i still need to give them my last 4 of the SSN if i decide to apply.

I looked at the email headers and email looks legit, but this DOB and last 4 of SSN requirement sounds pretty damn shady.


Did anyone ever hear about this company or know why would they ask for DOB/SSN, beside trying to sound shady?

[dr.jay]

I would never give my SSN to anyone over the phone, give him a fake one and see if he calls you out on it

[jpsum]

don't give it out. DOB and SSN are not required until you are hired at a company.

[xsb00st]

Originally Posted by dr.jay

I would never give my SSN to anyone over the phone, give him a fake one and see if he calls you out on it

I agree on not giving your last 4-digits over the phone to someone you aren't sure about. You should just let him know that you're not comfortable with giving that information at this time because of identity theft and ask if there's another way to handle this.

If you decide to give him a fake last 4-digits, I would give him something that's similar to your actual 4-digits (1243 instead of 1234), that way if he's legit you can just say you made an honest mistake. If you give him a blatantly false 4-digits (6789 instead of 1234) he may question your integrity and you may not get the job.

My 2-cents.

[Bimmer335i]

yeah, i call BS!

[evoi19]

the only time you need to give info like that is for background checks. And with that, you need to sign a document stating release of having your background checked out. If it's over the phone, i wouldn't give them your real SSN. Just in case....

[brocken]

Scam! do not give him the info!
You fill out those forms in person when doing an interview.

[solefald]

yeah, i dont even think i will be responding to that dude...


i got me a VERY lowball offer today where i would pretty much have to take a 20% pay cut, for at least a year, but i will see if i can re-negotiate a little more $$ there, because the place is pretty damn cool...

[ArmyBimmerDude]

Originally Posted by solefald

yeah, i dont even think i will be responding to that dude...


i got me a VERY lowball offer today where i would pretty much have to take a 20% pay cut, for at least a year, but i will see if i can re-negotiate a little more $$ there, because the place is pretty damn cool...

Better than being unemployed, right?

[Maestro]

My wife works in the recruiting industry and here is what she said...

Some companies are requiring that the DOB and SS number be submitted with a candidates applications, without this information you will not be considered for the job. So that is what is happening.

Is this legal or not is open to huge debate right now in the industry, but company appear to be getting away with it since if you want the job then you will do what they are asking or else you do not get considered for the position.

The only thing is, there is not much someone can do with the last 4 digits of the SS, and DOB obviously tells them how old you are which falls into the age discrimination area, but unless you are prepare to fight that battle and you really think they did not hire you because of your age it probably not work worrying about.

The only question is how bad you want the job.

[solefald]

Originally Posted by ArmyBimmerDude

Better than being unemployed, right?

you know, i haven't really experiences unemployment. in my 15 years in US i have spent roughly 2 weeks jobless. This last layoff was not too bad actually. I got a 1 month severance that helped me completely pay off my credit card debt and on top of that my old company offered me a contract till the end of the year, plus fully paid medial insurance and cell phone until January, so it's not too bad. The contract actually paid me higher than i was making as a full time employee. I was gonna leave anyway, so it was not bad.

I interviewed with 4 different big companies, but hiring in the corporate world takes FOREVER. From my past experience it takes about 3-4 months to get hired, I'm running out of cash and do not want to live off the credit cards, so i decided to take a job at University and see how it goes... The place is very nice, really laid back, more vacation and days off, better benefits and will be a good change from the crazy life in corporate world and no more on-call. Plus all kinds of educational discounts. The pay is 20% less for now because they are under 8% furlough till September 2010, but I am gonna take on couple more consulting gigs on a side and see how it all pans out. While 20% pay cut does not sound all that great, i think this job will benefit me greatly in the long run and offer more life/work balance.

UCSD, here I come

[jpsum]

what do you do exactly?

[solefald]

I am operator with my pocket calculator

unix/linux sysadmin

[ArmyBimmerDude]

Originally Posted by solefald

you know, i haven't really experiences unemployment. in my 15 years in US i have spent roughly 2 weeks jobless. This last layoff was not too bad actually. I got a 1 month severance that helped me completely pay off my credit card debt and on top of that my old company offered me a contract till the end of the year, plus fully paid medial insurance and cell phone until January, so it's not too bad. The contract actually paid me higher than i was making as a full time employee. I was gonna leave anyway, so it was not bad.

I interviewed with 4 different big companies, but hiring in the corporate world takes FOREVER. From my past experience it takes about 3-4 months to get hired, I'm running out of cash and do not want to live off the credit cards, so i decided to take a job at University and see how it goes... The place is very nice, really laid back, more vacation and days off, better benefits and will be a good change from the crazy life in corporate world and no more on-call. Plus all kinds of educational discounts. The pay is 20% less for now because they are under 8% furlough till September 2010, but I am gonna take on couple more consulting gigs on a side and see how it all pans out. While 20% pay cut does not sound all that great, i think this job will benefit me greatly in the long run and offer more life/work balance.

UCSD, here I come

Congrats man, i really think you made the right decision considering. Best of luck with your new gig.

[BMWM3DREAM]

What exactly do you do at UCSD...I mean, what will you be doing, what kind of position did you accept? Good luck with everything.

[ragingclue]

Originally Posted by solefald

I interviewed with 4 different big companies, but hiring in the corporate world takes FOREVER. From my past experience it takes about 3-4 months to get hired,

Ever try to get hired to the Government? Shit I wish the FAA was anywhere near 3-4 months....

[ArmyBimmerDude]

Originally Posted by ragingclue

Ever try to get hired to the Government? Shit I wish the FAA was anywhere near 3-4 months....

Trying to get into the GS system? If so, from friends i can imagine how frustrating it is for you. I've heard it takes up to a year sometimes.

[ragingclue]

Originally Posted by ArmyBimmerDude

Trying to get into the GS system? If so, from friends i can imagine how frustrating it is for you. I've heard it takes up to a year sometimes.

Yeah by the time I got my offer letter, I had forgotten about the process entirely. It was 8+ months at that point. I guess they expected me to find a temporary job or stay unemployed in the meantime?? However, if I hadn't gotten lucky in my civilian job search, the FAA offer would have blown anything out of the water money and benefits-wise, so I think they count mostly on that. They were surprised when I told them to pound sand.

[dr.jay]

Originally Posted by ArmyBimmerDude

Trying to get into the GS system? If so, from friends i can imagine how frustrating it is for you. I've heard it takes up to a year sometimes.

I have a GS job with the Gov. took me 3 years to move from WG to the GS side

[ArmyBimmerDude]

Originally Posted by ragingclue

Yeah by the time I got my offer letter, I had forgotten about the process entirely. It was 8+ months at that point. I guess they expected me to find a temporary job or stay unemployed in the meantime?? However, if I hadn't gotten lucky in my civilian job search, the FAA offer would have blown anything out of the water money and benefits-wise, so I think they count mostly on that. They were surprised when I told them to pound sand.

Originally Posted by dr.jay

I have a GS job with the Gov. took me 3 years to move from WG to the GS side

Yeah, from what i've been told, if you don't know someone or have a close friend already in the system to hook you up, good luck trying to get in. I was working on Fort Gordon as a Contractor, as soon as I started the program i'm in, and was given the opportunity to step up to the plate and start out as a GS-9. I decided against it, but it's amazing what it takes to get fired from these jobs once you have it.

[Bimmer335i]

Yeah, govt positions take longer than most..but it's a necessity, since they require background checks, extensive too..and in most positions, you're required a clearance...but once you're in, you're pretty much in for life...the federal govt, that is..not the state govt. like Cali where they furlough you at will..

[solefald]

Originally Posted by Bmoney2K4

What exactly do you do at UCSD...I mean, what will you be doing, what kind of position did you accept? Good luck with everything.

Unix Admin in Jacobs School of Engineering. Basically they have a ton of labs with most random set of hardware, clusters and so on. I'll have to be taking care of all that.

Originally Posted by ragingclue

Ever try to get hired to the Government? Shit I wish the FAA was anywhere near 3-4 months....

I never bothered to fill up my application to get citizenship, so I can not get any kind of clearance with a green card. That did not bother me much, until recently when I realized how many jobs are available in Government sector. I got hit up by all kinds of people offering jobs pretty much on the spot, as long as I had clearance, but I had to disappoint them...

Just did my citizenship application, but i have some stupid shit on my record that may make it impossible for me to get clearance...